Sunday, February 19, 2006

Big Pennisi

Mick Pennisi came up big with two straight threes to help Red Bull Barako pull away from the Purefoods Chunkee Giants midway through the fourth.

The Giants rallied, but James Yap flubbed a breakaway layup with 40 seconds remaining which would have cut down the Barakos’ lead to two. The score was 77-73. With half a minute remaining, the normally atrocious free throw shooter, Enrico Villanueva made two of two free throws to seal the win and the championship.

The game was witnessed by around ten thousand fans.

Okay. While watching the game, I was waxing sentimental. I don’t know if it’s just me, but weren’t the PBA games more exciting way back when? Way before I could palm my first ball, I was already watching Brown and Caidic (Great Taste) shoot their way to a championship. (They did win a championship, didn't they?)

I mean, forget about Kobe’s 81, I was watching when Paul Alvarez scored 70. He was dunking and windmilling his way to the hoop. That was before he got shot in the ass, which led to a decline in his skillz.

I don’t know what the ass has to do with leaping ability, but if Paul Alvarez became earthbound because of that, man, it has got to mean something.

Back then- which isn’t that far off, we’re talking up to the ‘90’s here- Philippine Basketball made the Filipino dream. Before Pacquiao, there was Jaworski. Okay, forget about Jaworski, the way we’ve forgotten about his stint at the Senate. (Must have been a bad dream. And I think I'm still dreaming now.) Before Pacquiao, there was Mama Mamaril, and Dondon Ampalayo, and Rudy Distrito. (Okay, I'm a very biased Ginebra fan. But who else was there to recall? Wink wink.) Wow. Who do we have now who can even be a pale comparison? I don’t really know; and that I’m not in that kind of mood to know should tell me something. And anyway, the answer really is: nada, zilch, nothing, zeero, uh-uh, go home funky boy and add 1 to negative 1 because that's the answer.

I’m really not sure why the PBA has seen its ratings taper off over the past few years. You could maybe explain it with NBA Live. Sure. Maybe. But the NBA hasn’t seen its ratings dive down as steeply as the PBA’s. So maybe it’s the players that are the cause. My thesis is this, and I'm not quite sure whether I purloined it off of LK's blog or SMS's sometime from the recent past or not (I probably did, but she can't prove it. Hah!): the PBA is personality-driven. The PBA ratings are going down d o w n d o w n down because the PBA players today have no personality whatsoever.

I mean, look at Jawo. He was mean, man. He kicked ass hard enough for the league to suspend him for life before his PBA days. Rudy Distrito- the last I heard of him, he was being accused for murder. Dondon Ampalayo? Man, I love hearing his name on the tube. Makes me think of ampalaya (bitter gourd), man, which must be been the reason why I’m so into it.

And Mamaril? Woooo. Tall skinny man. Makes you want to watch the game just to see if he'll fall apart at the joints or not.

Wow. Those were the days.

So today, I'm planning to help the PBA regain its personality by starting with my main man, MIck.

(Back to the present.) The Barakos just showed the Giants who had the bigger Pennisi.